Author: kollinaltomare

Our Chicago office is now more than a year old and staffed with 3 full-time employees! Although they enjoy the full support of our Long Beach home office, Chris Garcia, Ron Javier, and Dafne Serdio are working hard to make their presence known in the local industry scene. This means that on top of designing projects, collaborating with clients, and maintaining project schedules, this tremendous trio also spends a good deal of time at networking events after-hours rubbing shoulders with designers, suppliers, brand executives and other architecture firms. Two recent events that had our Chicago staff out on the town were Hospitality Design’s CitySCENE Chicago and The AIA Chicago Small Projects/Small Firms Awards.

CitySCENE Next Generation Networking events are gatherings hosted by Hospitality Design Magazine that bring together up-and-coming and established hospitality professionals for a fun evening of networking. These casual events draw together attendees for an evening of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at some of the area’s hottest hotels and event spaces. Chris, Ron, and Dafne, along with team members from White Space interiors attended the April 18th event at Boleo Bar and Restaurant at the Kimpton Gray Hotel in Downtown Chicago. The group from KAA/White Space took advantage of the chance to connect with many local professionals, and toured the Hospitality Design model room. Don’t they look cozy?

More recently, our Windy City group attended The Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s 7th annual Small Projects/Small Firms Awards on May 4th. Billed as “the biggest little party of the year” by AIA, the evening highlighted the best residential, commercial, and institutional architecture and functional objects designed over the past year. Presented by the AIA Chicago Small Practitioners Group, the goal of this awards program is to raise public awareness of the value that architects bring to small projects and to promote small practitioners as a resource for design excellence. Chris, Ron, and Dafne were each able to vote for their favorite project out of 92 submitted for the People’s Choice Award, and enjoyed exploring the display room at Architectural Artifacts, where the awards were held.

The team at Kollin Altomare Architects has been working diligently for some time on a new vision for Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico. The enhancements will bring fresh and innovative spaces to the Resort’s already magical landscape, ideal for beachfront meetings, weddings and private events, along with active experiences for groups including AntiGravity fitness and aerial yoga classes.

The fully re-imagined Apuane Spa and a sophisticated transformation of the adults-only Tamai Pool will offer beautiful venues for activities outside of the boardroom, including team relaxation and outdoor cocktail hours. The KAA’s re-imagining of the Resort’s signature Sol and Luna luxury suites will create expansive four and five-bedroom accommodations for executives, groups and families seeking the height of luxury. The multi-million dollar renovation will debut later this winter.

‘Tis the season for helping others, and Kollin Altomare Architects staff showed their holiday cheer this month by volunteering with Friends & Helpers, a local nonprofit organization, in El Segundo earlier this month.

Friends & Helpers was started in 1992 in Southern California by a victim of domestic violence to support the families within local shelters. Their goal is to provide support, education and encouragement for domestic abuse victims who have fled to a shelter or group home for safety. All of whom are trying to help themselves out of a violent, hurtful situation by receiving counseling, job training, financial planning and life skills. The organization supports several centers throughout the year.

Jill Guerrero, KAA job captain, introduced the rest of our staff to Friends & Helpers, and organized a volunteer day to give back local families in need. On December 6th, Jill and Kira Beltran, KAA interior designer, participated in this year’s holiday program, assembling packages of gift cards, toys and food for families in the program.

Friends & Helpers community outreach includes Back to School and Adopt A Family Holiday Program. Volunteers assemble school supplies, snack bags, hygiene items and holiday gifts as a way to provide the families with items we often take for granted and they desperately need all year round. This is made possible by donations, volunteer hours and company sponsorship. For more information on Friends & Helpers, click here.

Serving the community we live and work in is very important to us at Kollin Altomare Architects. Founder and principal Michael Kollin recently spent time mentoring Wilson Classical High School’s senior architectural students despite an increasingly busy schedule with all of our ongoing projects. As a mentor, he guided them and shared his knowledge gained through decades of professional experience as an architect.

As the students presented their final senior projects June 10th, Michael served as juror, and later that evening was also a juror at an art showing of the students’ work. “Regeneration”is an exhibition of functional objects designed and built by students from Wilson High School’s Spring Architecture class. Using wood sourced from used pallets, students constructed upcycled tables and chairs inspired by both architecture as well as their personal experiences. The exhibit is on display at the Long Beach Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) and will run until July 3rd in MOLAA’s Port to Learning Gallery.

The Port to Learning is a new gallery space committed to expanding visitors’ understanding of topics central to MOLAA’s mission through interactive educational programming. For more information on the Regeneration exhibit, click here

Congratulations to these talented students! We look forward to seeing their designs around Long Beach in the future!

At Kollin Altomare Architects, we strive to be partners with the community we serve and give back to our local neighborhood whenever possible. We had a great opportunity to work with local children last week when KAA’s Trifon Metodiev and Bryan Pliez visited Rogers Middle School to present at their 6th annual Career Day. This year marked Kollin Altomare Architects’ fourth year of participation in this wonderful event that brings together children, teachers and the local business community.

Trifon and Bryan gave presentations to two classes of 8th graders at Rogers, and discussed the education required to become an architect, as well as the responsibilities and duties architects have every day. At the end of the presentation, students were given paper and time to create a drawing of any type of architecture they chose. All of the students’ drawings are included in the image album below. Thanks to Bryan and Trifon, we just may have some future architects who never considered this dynamic career before!

We’ve recently updated our company profile video, and we’d like to share it with all of you. In this exclusive behind-the-scenes view into our firm, we highlight our company background, vision, and glimpses of some of our most inspired designs. The video will also be showcased soon on our website homepage. Let us know what you think in the comments!

As we continue to grow, we need more amazing people to join our team. The addition of our Chicago office and many new projects means we’re looking for a few good men (and women) to join us. Do you have what it takes? Let us know in the comments! We’re currently looking for a Licensed Architect Project Manager and a Job Captain.

If you or someone you know has significant architectural experience, a drive for learning and growing in the field, and loves groovy background music while you work, click the appropriate link (or comment) below and send us your info!

We’ve been talking about our work on the San Gabriel Sheraton for some time now, and for good reason: it’s one of the largest and most high-profile projects we’re working on! From concept drawings to the ground breaking ceremony, Kollin Altomare Architects has been an integral part of the team that is bringing this vision to life. The San Gabriel Sheraton is one of several new buildings that will form the redeveloped Valley Corridor area, and we are excited to see it all come together.

Even though completion is still some time away, you can now check up on construction progress anytime from your computer or mobile device by clicking here. These live cameras broadcast from the construction site 24 hours a day, giving visitors a true insider’s view into what it takes to build a landmark hotel. The website also features time-lapse video of construction progress from groundbreaking to current status, as well as high-resolution still photos and helicopter aerial views.

Kollin Altomare Architects has been working with California Pizza Kitchen for more than two years. Since our relationship began, we have been designing remodels and new stores for this innovative pizza brand all over California, as well as stores in Arizona and Hawaii.

Our latest completed project with CPK is a remodel of their restaurant at the Westfield Mainplace in Santa Ana, CA. The updated design features a wood and metal façade with new signs that reflect current CPK branding.

The outdoor patio has been remodeled as well, and fits right in with the new, modern design. We are proud to show off photos of our most recent completed project! Stay tuned to this space for more completed projects very soon.

As much as we love working on our huge hospitality and commercial projects (and we do!), it is also very important to us at Kollin Altomare Architects to do charitable work that positively impacts our community. One of our current projects is a collaboration with Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles to design a fanciful Wish Room that will help bring joy to exceptional children battling terminal illness. Take a look at some concept boards, and we will be sure to update you all as progress continues!